Organic Agriculture (OA) is a rapidly growing sector in Africa, with strong links to economic and sociocultural development in the continent (Willer and Kilcher, 2012; Auerbach, 2013). OA can also be seen as a relevant tool to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2, 12, 13 and 15 on sustainable...

While agro-chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides are often promoted as inputs that increase agricultural productivity by limiting a range of pre-harvest losses, their use may have negative human health and labor productivity implications. We explore the relationship between agro-chemical use and the value of crop output at the...

Floods, droughts, heat waves, cold spells, and other natural disasters are large sources of risk for farmers. For instance, in semiarid areas of India, 89 percent of farming households cited drought as the largest risk to agricultural production. Climate change may make weather patterns more extreme and unpredictable, further exposing...

Cette année le 8 mars a eu un accent particulier. Et cela pour deux raisons. La première, les autorités ont placé la commémoration sous le thème «Entrepreneuriat agricole des femmes : obstacles, défis et perspectives». Elles sont allées plus loin que le thème de la journée internationale qui est «Planète 50-50 d’ici 2030 :...

Pulses have a huge share in Ethiopia’s agriculture crop production. As figures show, Ethiopia annually produces over 400 000 metric tons of chickpea, which places the country among the top ten largest chickpea producers in the world. About five million Ethiopian smallholder farmers are relying on the production of pulses for...

Malawi is a small landlocked country in southern Africa, bordered by Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. The majority of Malawians are smallholder farmers, who grow crops for both food and income. More than half of the Malawian population lives in poverty, and the rate of food insecurity is very high. Typical...

This scoping exercise was carried on to deepen our understanding of the current context of seed use, main crops and varieties in the research localities, in order to gather evidence of the ongoing importance of farmer seed systems in the agricultural practices and livelihoods of smallholder farmers, to identify cases...

FIER MADA (Foire Internationale de l’Economie Rurale de Madagascar) 18ème Edition – 3d to 7th august : participation by TCP on NewCountrySTAT system, EU funded project (AINA) led by FAO, National Task Force for CSA (FAO ensuring executive secretary), TCPs on normative interventions (forestry, land) – Communications’ activities : Photos coverage,...

The following pages report the results of our survey conducted among (Malian, Senegalese and Mauritanian) Soninké migrants during the period of 14th to 4 December 2015, living in the social residences of the former home Pinel (first home of migrant workers in France). This survey had to aim to discuss...

Following years of conflict and national policies aimed at encouraging sedentarization of pastoral populations, international and bilateral actors are increasingly shifting their focus towards supporting animal production systems. This report reviews the state of animal-based livelihoods in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda and examines how animal ownership affects a...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

Este artículo incluye algunos ejemplos de uso de la tracción animal como fuente de energía para operaciones de post-cosecha. Detalla las características del equipo de tiro impulsado por animales, molienda motorizada de granos (molinos de placa, de rodillos y de martillos), extracción de aceite motorizada (prensa de tornillo sinfín, prensa...

This paper investigates the empirical linkages between production risk and technology adoption decisions among agricultural farmers in Tanzania and Uganda using a balanced household panel dataset from the World Bank’s LSMS-ISA project. Applying a moment based approach and a MundlakChamberlain IV fixed effects model to control for endogeneity and unobserved...

This summary report documents the results of the workshop  convened by the African Union Commission    AUC) from 29  June - 01 July 2016 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The workshop was  organized  under  the  theme  “Resilience and adaptation  to  drought conditions and pastoralists systems in Africa” and was attended by  representatives ...

  The main cause of food insecurity for many communal households in Zimbabwe is their reliance upon a form of subsistence-based agriculture which is dependent on a limited range of inputs often poorly suited to local conditions. The current agricultural system prioritizes monocropping and grain yield over other factors of food...

In agroecology, farmers continuously build situation-specific knowledge that allows them to develop under unpredictable and changing circumstances. There are no  fixed prescriptions in agroecology about how to produce, process, market or store food, feed, medicine and fibre. Rather, different practices work in different ways depending on each specific context and ecosystem....

This paper characterizes the transition from small-scale farming and the drivers of farm size growth among medium- and large-scale farmers in Ghana. The research was designed to better understand the dynamics of change in Ghana’s farm structure and contribute to the debate on whether Africa should pursue a smallholder-based or...

Since February 2014 Sierra Leone, with support from the Government of Germany and FAO is implementing the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT). This video interviews a wide range of engaged national stakeholders from the land, fisheries and forestry sectors and documents best practices and lessons learned....

Given the context of transitions related to rapid urbanization, the roles that rural economies and societies will have to play (particularly smallholder farmers and other rural producers) in creating sustainable and inclusive food systems, in generating employment and incomes and in contributing to more balanced, equitable and mutually reinforcing patterns...

Drylands represent 40% of the Earth's surface, produce 44% of the world’s food and are home to 80% of the world’s poor. Eighty per cent of Kenya comprises arid or semi-arid lands. Rainfall occurs in just one or two short, intense seasons. Because the land is so dry, when rain...